Ana Navarro Says Melania Trump Tried To "Self-Deport From The White House" With Her Border Visit

Anti-immigration hawks sometimes propose "self-deportation," wherein the government makes life so miserable for undocumented immigrants that they voluntarily leave the country. Speaking on The View Friday, Republican commentator Ana Navarro said Melania Trump wants to "self-deport" from the White House."

Melania Trump visited the U.S-Mexico border on Thursday to tour a child migrant facility, one of several in the spotlight after the administration established its family separation policy earlier this year. The hosts of The View discussed the meaning of Trump's visit, and debated whether she was executing a savvy public relations move or, alternatively, trolling her husband. Navarro, a Republican and longtime Donald Trump opponent, had another theory.

“We all know that this is a very complicated marriage,” Navarro, a regular commentator on CNN, said. “I thought she was trying to self-deport from the White House." Melania Trump is a Slovenian-born immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 2006.

The View co-host Sarah Haines made a similar suggestion to Navarro's on Friday's show, quipping that the first lady's visit to the border was "the most awkward beginning to divorce proceedings I've ever seen."

Not everyone on the show agreed, however. Joy Behar was convinced that the White House "sent her there" as a show of empathy for the detained children, while Meghan McCain opined that Trump's visit was "damage control, but it's effective."

The View's Sunny Hostin was thoroughly convinced that Trump went to the border without clearing it with the president first, and that she was "trolling her husband."

"You don't think they sent her there?" Behar asked her co-host.

"No," Hostin replied. "I think she's trolling him."

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The concept of "self-deportation" was popularized, in part, by Mitt Romney, who promoted the idea during his 2012 presidential campaign.

"People decide that they can do better by going home because they can't find work here, because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," Romney explained at a Republican debate. "And so we're not going to round people up."